Uncovering the Role of Sleep in the Acquisition of Linguistic Knowledge

人类学习的一个显著方面是我们从个人经验中建立一般知识的能力。这种常识对几乎所有认知功能都至关重要，但在语言中尤为重要，因为它使我们能够使用以前从未交流过的新单词、短语和句子。例如，我们理解新词“untweetable”是因为我们对词缀{un}和{able}的功能有一般的了解。然而，尽管这种形式的知识对人类交流具有重要意义，但我们对它是如何获得的却知之甚少。最近的研究提供了强有力的线索，表明睡眠可能在一般语言知识的习得中起着至关重要的作用。在之前的ESRC项目中，我们开发了一个模拟语言学习的实验室，以跟踪如何通过对单个单词的多次体验来建立一般知识。这项研究表明，虽然单个项目的新记忆可以快速获得，但发现单个项目之间的规律以进行概括的过程需要一段时间的隔夜记忆巩固。本研究项目的目的是发现睡眠是否是获得一般语言知识的关键因素，并进一步描述睡眠期间产生的促进这种学习形式的神经过程。该提案描述了三个工作包，将睡眠科学的前沿方法与我们的实验室语言学习模拟相结合，以揭示睡眠如何影响特定项目和一般知识的发展。在第一个工作包中，当在训练和测试之间存在延迟时，我们跟踪特定项目和一般知识的获取，并评估如果延迟包括过夜睡眠而不是白天醒来是否重要。在第二个工作包中，我们研究了训练前后睡眠剥夺如何影响特定项目和一般语言知识的习得。在第三个工作包中，我们使用嗅觉提示技术在睡眠中重新激活新学习信息的记忆，并测量这种重新激活是否会增强语言知识的获取。然后，我们将这一实验范式进一步探讨，我们是否可以通过选择性地重新激活特定的记忆来影响长期学习的过程。在所有涉及睡眠的实验中，我们使用多导睡眠图来评估特定睡眠阶段或睡眠期间神经活动对不同形式学习的重要性。我们还在一周后评估所有实验中的学习情况，以得出新知识在较长时间内的稳定性结论。国际研究表明，英国是儿童睡眠不足比例最大的国家之一，超过四分之一的英国人每晚平均睡眠时间不足5小时。考虑到这些统计数据，了解睡眠不足对学习和记忆的影响是至关重要的。这个研究项目将解决一些深刻的问题：大脑如何在睡眠中继续处理新的记忆，这些与睡眠相关的神经机制如何塑造长期语言知识的获取，以及睡眠如何为大脑准备新的学习。我们的发现将改变学习的理论模型，特别是当这些模型适用于语言时，并将为在教育环境中产生实质性影响提供一系列新的机会。我们已经制定了一个与学术和非学术利益相关者合作的完整计划，以实现这一潜力。

One remarkable aspect of human learning is our ability to build general knowledge from individual experiences. This general knowledge is central to virtually all cognitive functions, but is particularly important in language, as it allows us to use new words, phrases, and sentences that have not been communicated previously. For example, we understand the novel word 'untweetable' because we have general knowledge of the functions of affixes {un} and {able}. However, despite the significance of this form of knowledge for human communication, we know remarkably little about how it is acquired. Recent research provides strong clues that sleep may play a vital role in the acquisition of general linguistic knowledge. In a previous ESRC project, we developed a laboratory analogue of language learning to track how general knowledge is built through multiple experiences with individual words. This research demonstrated that although new memories for individual items can be acquired rapidly, the process of discovering regularities across individual items to permit generalisation requires a period of overnight memory consolidation. The aim of the present research project is to discover whether sleep is the critical factor in the acquisition of general linguistic knowledge, and further, to describe the neural processes arising during sleep that facilitate this form of learning. This proposal describes three work packages that combine methods at the leading edge of sleep science with our laboratory analogue of language learning to uncover how sleep impacts on the development of item-specific and general knowledge. In the first work package, we track the acquisition of item-specific and general knowledge when there is a delay between training and testing, and assess whether it matters if that delay consists of overnight sleep as opposed to daytime wake. In the second work package, we investigate how sleep deprivation before or after training impacts on the acquisition of item-specific and general linguistic knowledge. In the third work package, we use an olfactory cuing technique to reactivate memories of newly-learned information during sleep, and measure whether this reactivation enhances the acquisition of linguistic knowledge. We then take this experimental paradigm one step further to ask whether we can bias the course of long-term learning by selectively reactivating particular memories. In all experiments involving sleep, we use polysomnography to assess the importance of particular sleep stages or neural events during sleep for different forms of learning. We also assess learning in all experiments after one week to draw conclusions about the stability of new knowledge over the longer term. International research has shown that the UK has one of the largest proportions of children who are sleep deprived, and that more than a quarter of the UK population gets on average less than five hours of sleep nightly. Given these statistics, it is of vital importance to understand what the consequences of poor sleep are for learning and memory. This research programme will address profound questions about how the brain continues to process new memories during sleep, how these sleep-related neural mechanisms shape the acquisition of long-term linguistic knowledge, and how sleep prepares the brain for new learning. Our findings will be transformative for theoretical models of learning, particularly as these apply to language, and will provide a range of new opportunities for creating substantive impacts within educational settings. We have developed a full programme of engagement with academic and non-academic stakeholders to realise this potential.